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Maine is a water-rich place. Apart from our thousands of miles of coastline, we have thousands more lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams, from the smallest seasonal trickles to the mighty Penobscot, recharged each year by more than 24 trillion gallons of rainfall. 

It's no wonder, then, that Indigenous people, and later European settlers, built their lives and livelihoods around these waterways. For thousands of years, people have fished their waters and hunted and built homes along their banks; when settler arrived in the 1700s, they quickly set about damming rivers and harnessing the power of the surging water. 

The dams they built changed both the course of the state's history and its landscape, as lakes and ponds formed behind the massive walls and people built homes and businesses along their shores.

Hundreds of years later, Maine still relies on many of these structures to generate electricity. But many have fall into disuse and disrepair, their fates uncertain as maintenance and insurance costs rise.

This week, Emmett Gartner explores what happens when a dam owner tries to give up a dam it no longer wants. Who is responsible for the aftermath?

— Kate

State denies initial request of Bucksport-area owner to give up dams

State environmental officials on Tuesday denied petitions from corporate owners of three Bucksport-area dams to forfeit ownership. What happens if the forfeit requests are accepted has never been tested.

Read this story by Emmett Gartner.

Geriatrics workforce grant to focus on Maine’s rural and tribal communities: 

The nearly $5 million in federal funds will support tribal health centers and a program that connects medical students with rural communities. Read this story by Rose Lundy.

Critics, studies cast doubt on Maine’s claims of climate benefits from highway expansion: The state says a proposed bypass outside Portland will reduce emissions by alleviating gridlock. Advocates say this claim has been frequently disproven by the outcomes of similar projects elsewhere. Read this story by Annie Ropeik.

Flying over Sears Island puts the offshore wind debate in context: A bird's-eye view can show you a lot about a place — its size and shape, its hidden contours, and the water, forests, roads and development around it. Monitor contributor Annie Ropeik lets us in on what she learned from such a view of parts of Penobscot Bay and the proposed offshore wind port last week. Read this story by Annie Ropeik.

Twenty-two challenges to school library books have been filed in Maine since January 2022. Just one book has been removed.

Most complaints target LGBTQ+ books, a Maine Monitor review found. Some rely on resources from national conservative organizations.

Read this story by Amanda Geduld. 

Know of a story that we should be digging into? Send it to our newsroom. 

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